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Interesting report from the Life, Inc. blog about Americans living on $50,000 a year - which is the national household median income as reported by the Census Bureau.
This week, they’ll be profiling people from across the country whose annual household income is about $50,000.
We are the median: Living on $50,000 a year

Does $50,000 a year seem like plenty to live on, or not nearly enough?
If you said somewhere in between, that makes sense because $49,445 is the national household median income, meaning about half of all households live on more than that and half on less. The figure, based on 2010 calculations, was reported in September by the Census Bureau as part of an extensive report on income and poverty…
…Many of the readers who wrote to us say that on $50,000 a year they can put food on the table, pay for necessities and even splurge occasionally on a dinner out or a game for the family.
But others told us they have to watch their budgets closely and occasionally make sacrifices to get the bills paid.
“It’s not poverty. We don’t miss meals and we make MOST of our bills. However, we live paycheck to paycheck, and we carry debt,” wrote Brett Jones, 37, who lives with his partner in Texas.

(photo of Nathan Palmer, left, and Brett Jones at their home in Victoria, Texas, by Eric Kayne via Life Inc.)

Interesting report from the Life, Inc. blog about Americans living on $50,000 a year - which is the national household median income as reported by the Census Bureau.

This week, they’ll be profiling people from across the country whose annual household income is about $50,000.

We are the median: Living on $50,000 a year

Does $50,000 a year seem like plenty to live on, or not nearly enough?

If you said somewhere in between, that makes sense because $49,445 is the national household median income, meaning about half of all households live on more than that and half on less. The figure, based on 2010 calculations, was reported in September by the Census Bureau as part of an extensive report on income and poverty…

…Many of the readers who wrote to us say that on $50,000 a year they can put food on the table, pay for necessities and even splurge occasionally on a dinner out or a game for the family.

But others told us they have to watch their budgets closely and occasionally make sacrifices to get the bills paid.

“It’s not poverty. We don’t miss meals and we make MOST of our bills. However, we live paycheck to paycheck, and we carry debt,” wrote Brett Jones, 37, who lives with his partner in Texas.

(photo of Nathan Palmer, left, and Brett Jones at their home in Victoria, Texas, by Eric Kayne via Life Inc.)

18-year-old gives his $40,000 scholarship to other teens

Allan Guei, 18, was a star basketball player at Compton High School in the Los Angeles area before he graduated last month. He also had a GPA above 3.0, and his good grades made him eligible for an unusual competition: A free-throw contest in the Compton High gymnasium. The top prize: $40,000 in scholarship money.
Guei, whose parents immigrated to the United States from the Ivory Coast, knew how much that financial aid could mean for his family. So he was feeling a fair share of pressure as students and teachers crushed into the gym to watch Guei and seven other randomly selected, academically successful students make foul shots. Guei won the free-throw contest by one basket and netted the $40,000.
But it’s what he did next that’s truly astonishing.

(reporting from Laura T. Coffey via TODAY.com)

18-year-old gives his $40,000 scholarship to other teens

Allan Guei, 18, was a star basketball player at Compton High School in the Los Angeles area before he graduated last month. He also had a GPA above 3.0, and his good grades made him eligible for an unusual competition: A free-throw contest in the Compton High gymnasium. The top prize: $40,000 in scholarship money.

Guei, whose parents immigrated to the United States from the Ivory Coast, knew how much that financial aid could mean for his family. So he was feeling a fair share of pressure as students and teachers crushed into the gym to watch Guei and seven other randomly selected, academically successful students make foul shots. Guei won the free-throw contest by one basket and netted the $40,000.

But it’s what he did next that’s truly astonishing.

(reporting from Laura T. Coffey via TODAY.com)